Confused on footings???

[thebadger]

Re: Confused on footings???

FB66,

Nothing under the footings. The one thing I heard from the forum is that you DON'T want crushed gravel under this type of footing.

I'm pretty much done for the year. I've stretched my wife's patience to the limit since I wasn't allowed to start the oven until next year. I got by with the foundation/walls on a technicallity.

I'll post/start a thread when I get going in the spring.

Good luck.
Dick

[fullback66]

Re: Confused on footings???

Badger,
It is going to be a long winter for you. When your looking at the forum and staring at the foundation. Good luck.
fb66

[christo]

Re: Confused on footings???

Badger,

I can hear that tiny wheelbarrow in your picture screaming from over here!!!!

Christo

[steveparkinson]

Re: Confused on footings???

I am also stuck with my footing situation. I am in california, and the ground does not freeze here, so that's not a real concern for me.

I want to build my oven on top of an existing patio which is composed of 2-3 inches of gravel, then 3-4 inches of concrete (with 3ft spaced rebar) and then a 1-inch thick clay brick.

My understanding is that 3-4 inch of concrete is borderline. But I'm not sure what to do. I am thinking I should remove the brick where the oven is, install anchors into the existing concrete, and build up another 3-4 inches of concrete footings. But, this will be above grade.

What will happen in 3-5 years time? My guess is that the patio will crack. And I think the weight of those 3-4 inches of extra concrete will make the problem worse. So maybe the best thing would just be to remove the bricks and lay the cinderblock directly on the concrete (I'll still anchor them to the patio).

The other option of course is to remove the concrete, and dig down to make a proper footing. But who wants to do that!?!? (Do I?)

[cvdukes]

Re: Confused on footings???

The other option of course is to remove the concrete, and dig down to make a proper footing. But who wants to do that!?!? (Do I?)[/QUOTE]

My solutuion would be to rent a large gas-pwoered concrete saw. The push-behind kind that looks like a walking lawn mower with a water hose attached. You can cut outside the perimeter of where you want your foundations to be, and then cut up the inside into smaller blocks by cross-hatching back and forth. You'll only need it an hour or two, so really pretty cheap. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can remove the cut up concrete and dig a proper footing.

[dmun]

Re: Confused on footings???

The other option of course is to remove the concrete, and dig down to make a proper footing. But who wants to do that!?!? (Do I?)

My solution would be to rent a large gas-powered concrete saw. The push-behind kind that looks like a walking lawn mower with a water hose attached. You can cut outside the perimeter of where you want your foundations to be, and then cut up the inside into smaller blocks by cross-hatching back and forth. You'll only need it an hour or two, so really pretty cheap. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can remove the cut up concrete and dig a proper footing.

Or, you could just cut around the edge of where your oven is going to be. If your concern is cracking the patio, by cutting it loose, if it shifted it would gracefully settle as a unit, and not affect the separate patio. It sounds to me as if you have a good slab, and good layer of crushed stone, you really don't need any more than this, unless you are going to build an exceptionally tall structure.

By the way, you can get quotes from concrete cutting guys. It's quite a competitive business. I'd be a little intimidated by that piece of equipment, and I don't intimidate easily.

[steveparkinson]

Re: Confused on footings???

The push-behind kind that looks like a walking lawn mower with a water hose attached.

Would that also cut thru the rebar?

[cvdukes]

Re: Confused on footings???

I rented one a few years back. It was really easy to handle even though it had something like a 16 or 20 inch blade. I don't recall it acting any different when it hit the rebar...just cut through everything. The place I rented it from deals mainly with tradesmen. Because I picked it up at closing time on a Friday and had it back to them when they reopened on Monday, they only charged for 2 hours. I made about 45 linear feet of cuts in under an hour as soon as I drug it home... then spent the rest of the weekend looking around the place for anything else I could cut up with it. Sadly, I didn't find too much else to use it on.

[Acoma]

Re: Confused on footings???

FB66, I hope your answers are clear for you. As for footings for frost in your area, you definately want to consult a local (repetable) building contractor to ask about the frost depth for you. Go below it by 6"+. As for permit, not if it is not attached. As for reenforcing footings with rebarb, see some of our photos at the foundation stage and what we have done (varying by depth). With regards to rebarb placement, it would be wise to know the size of oven you will build, area around cinder wall (4", etc) and areas where you want the rebarb reenforcing. You would need to calculate the blocks for each of the four sides and where the open areas would be (i.e. 4" from edge on 8" or 16" (either way)). This is the critical planning stage so take your time.

[Acoma]

Re: Confused on footings???

SteveP. It can freeze in San Jose, but happens rarely, and not enough duration to be a concern with frost depth. As for the Oven and the weight when finished, I wouldn't build on a four inch slab. Get the concrete saw, line the area on the patio that needs to be exposed for building the oven, and cut the four inch slab. It should not be intimidating as long as you line out the grid correctly (measure, measure, measure). Once you do the grid and do the cut, get a sledge hammer and start breaking apart. Tough physical work but cheaper than a contractor. You can likely rent a college frat kid needing a few bucks and have him break it up. Do go down a foot for strength and reenforce. Remember, these ovens are not light, they are not charcoal or gas grills.

[steveparkinson]

Re: Confused on footings???

Acoma, thanks for your reply. I still have some thinking to do. I am tending towards dmun's suggestion - just cut the concrete and let the existing slab float.

[thebadger]

Re: Confused on footings???

Christo,


I can hear that tiny wheelbarrow in your picture screaming from over here!!!!

That wasn't the wheelbarrow you heard screaming... I borrowed my mother in laws as well and it was a lot bigger.Between the footing and fill ALL (overkill) the cores I used 48 - 80 lb bags. And yes I could have gotton a truck but this offered the flexiblity I needed with time off of work and the changing weather.

I'm on "hiatus" until the spring. I'm going to use the time to sketch out my build and finish materials.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Dick